One of my facebook contacts, Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (which appears to be winning every award imagineable) unsurprisingly hit facebook’s maximum friend limit. To continue she must move to a fan page where there is no limit, but this means losing the comments, photos and videos and they cannot be copied across.rbs1 How to convert a facebook account to a fan page

Initially facebook told Rebecca she could not download these items, but there is a way through the Accounts link:-

Account -> Account Settings -> Download your information

The file contains everything you uploaded to your account (so could be quite big).  They organise the contents in folders and link them all up with ready to use web pages.

While this cannot be uploaded to facebook it can be uploaded to any other webspace and visible to the entire Internet community.  You should remove your email address and the messages for security reasons (more on this below).

This will allow you to share the information created on your account with your new fans.  They will be able to link to it or discuss it in almost the same way as if on a normal facebook page.

It is not the perfect solution but it is all we have right now.  In time facebook may create a tool to handle this so I don’t think there is commercial viability for an independent software company to create one, besides facebook is in a state of constant change so the effort would be wasted.

What would it look like?

Here’s mine:  http://www.martynwalker.com/fb/html/profile.html

You will see I removed the Messages section and my email and phone numbers.  If you do not know how this is done you have a few choices.  In terms of web page development this is easy and requires no particular skills.  If you have an 8 year old son or daughter they will probably know what you need to do.

If you have a web friendly friend who charges $100/hour this should cost a nickel.

Alternatively Google/Youtube “HTML Tutorial” and you will find some self-help options.  The following video demonstrates how to edit the pages but if you need help on uploading them you will need to check with Google again.

(Best seen maximised or in HD direct from Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgPXFiX5z_w)

 

In my office I have three computers, all running Windows 7, all three under a year old. Two have speaker systems connected, the other is a laptop. They all suffer from fluctuating volume and it’s driving me nuts. Every week or so I spend a few hours researching other peoples experience. It seems I am one of many thousands sufferring this issue.

Solutions for some people do not work for others. images Windows 7 Volume Fluctuations While Playing MusicThe fact that some people have found solutions and I cannot just makes the entire fiasco more frustrating.  Add the time spent trying to sort this and multiply that figure by the minimum wage by the number of people experiencing this issue and there’s a good chance the UK defecit could be covered by the extra revenue in taxes.

Here are a few of the solutions I have tried that have worked for other people:

  • Reinstalling sound card drivers
  • Rolling sound card drivers back (I worked my way through to the originals)
  • Selecting “Do Nothing” in Control Panel -> Sound Card Settings -> Communication tab
  • Kicking the cat (at least the volume was consistent for a few seconds)

If you know the secret and wish to share I will pay you $10 via Paypal if it works, that should be enough to cover a pint (unless of course you are in the UK and a budget has just raised the price; thanks Gordon, you did for finance what Herod did for the Bethlehem Playgroup Association).

Enjoy your day!

 

Last night I discovered Mosaik on Flattr. Mosaik released The Leandi Construction Kit and encourages you remix and have some fun with it. So I have!

 

951911 blog Music industry on its knees comes begging for your helpThe last joke left by the Mandybill government, the Digital Economy Act, may be taken to court by BT and TalkTalk, so says The Register.  Let’s hope so.

© 2011 Martyn Walker | Software Architect | Hiker And Hacker Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha